A guide to legally acquiring a firearm in the Philippines

Here is a simple but very useful guide to legally acquiring a firearm in the Philippines.

It assumes that you will be using this firearm for legal purposes and are also legally staying in the country.

I wrote this as an effort to show others that gun ownership is not as arcane a process or as impossible as many people think.

First get some ID photos taken, get at least eight 1x1" and 2x2" color photos.

Go to your nearest police station and get a police clearance specifying that you need it for a firearms permit. They will charge you a bit more for it because the government thinks that if you have enough money to be spending on guns you probably can afford luxury and are thus charged more. This will cost you about 100 pesos and another 50 if you want to get it right away.

Once you get your police clearance proceed to your city hall and pay your income tax and get a class btax payer's certificate, bring this to the mayor's secretary and apply for mayor's clearance (20 pesos) then proceed to the court docket and ask for a court clearance (another 20 pesos).

Go to an accredited instructor and get a certificate of attendance in a safety course appropriate for the firearm you intend to get. This can cost anywhere from 350 pesos to 700 pesos.

Bring all of these documents to the gun store including the money for your gun and pay for it. In about three weeks you should be getting a call asking you to pick up your shiny new gun.

Enjoy it and be safe!

If you have noticed, the .phgovernment seems to think that one has to prove innocence before being allowed to have a firearm, though I understand their concern, the burden of proof should be put on them rather than the citizens. For example, they should perform the needed BG checks instead of sending you to all these places just to get the documents.

If you are too lazy to do all this, most gun shops allow non appearance processing of papers but they will charge you on the average of 4,000 to 6,000 Philippine Pesos. Today it is about $1:PhP51.944 more or less.